An invitation to globalize the information literacy agenda

expanding discourse

Sergio Chaparro

Zachary Newell

pp. 14-22

in: Serap Kurbanolu, Joumana Boustany, Esther Grassian, Diane Mizrachi, Loriene Roy (eds), Information literacy in everyday life, Berlin, Springer, 2019

Abstract

This paper attempts to investigate and discuss concepts of information literacy (IL) in light of global challenges to information access, the pervasiveness of educational inequalities, and the culture of informality that affects information consumers across spectrums around the world. We explore the possibility that these factors suggest a need to refine IL as a way of increasing its impact for the everyday citizen and expanding its mostly inside-the-classroom effect. We also propose the need to investigate the role of social media in normalizing misinformation and disinformation for everyday citizens in developing nations – what the authors see as dysfunctional information scenarios (DIS), where the majority of news is retrieved through contaminated channels. In turn these problems erode the basic principles of both democracy and IL and point to a need for IL educators to do more to expand the reach of information literacies across socioeconomic, cultural and political divides.